St. Paul daily globe., 1887-10-03

IL 10 Sale IO say UHdU tle WOuiu Hdfe
| given it up and died an old bachelor.
Yet without minister, magistrate, regis
! ter OF other official Intervention the mar
! riage o.. Adam and Eve was such that it
would have stood the test of the old
| English common law.
From earliest times the various states
| of society have imposed regulations for
| the observance of this solemn contract.
| For marriage is simply contract, eX-
| cept that the parties cannot now change
or terminate it by mutual consent, as
| they can all other contracts. There is
| in the royal library of Paris written
contract made in 1897, between two per
| SONS OF noble birth in Armdanal. The
| husband and wife were bound to each
other for seven years. 1t was also agreed
| that the paTtieS should have the right to
| renew the tie at the end of that time if
| they mutually agreed; but if not, the
| children were to be equally divided, and
| ii the number chance not to be even,
they were
TO DRAW LOTS FOR THE ODD ONE.
The Roman church alone regarded
marriage as a sacrament, but all the
| other churches recognized it as divine
| institution, and, accordingly, every de-
nomination has provided religious ser
| vices for its solemniZation. So strong
| hold did the church of England gain
| upon it that for long time the regula-
| tlOn of marriage and divorce was almost
| exclusively under the church's iuris-
| dictiOn.
Among the Romans there were three
ways of obtaining a wife, by capture,
sale or gift. When a Roman bought
| wife, and this was the usual way, the
ceremony that followed was merely
gone through for the sake of having in
70 h of fl,n col Ehn
head of the family had to give her over
to the husband in the presence of wits
| nesses, and it is from this that we now
have the custom Of giving away the
bride. Before the period of Rome's
greatness, the parties could dissolve the
! marriage by mutual consent. When
they wished to terminate the contract,
they usually went before an altar and
in the presence of witnesses declared
the marriage at an end. At and after
the time of Rome's greatness the mar
husband took his wife not as her huSl.
band, but as her father. She came into
his family the same almost as an adopted
daughter. Originally the husband had
absolute and complete control over her
| and her property. Even after his death
she was subjected to any guardianship
| that he might have had appointed for her
during his lifetime.
| But A CHANGE CAME IN HER CONDITION
and came as changes usually come, from
one extreme to another. The wife was
now subject to the tutelage of guardians
appointed by her own family This tu-
telage gave her very independent po-
| Sition as to her separate estate and per-
| son.
Before the change came, and even
afterward, there was exercised among
| the Romans complete tyranny by the
| head of the family over his relations
| which were members of his family. AS
| head of the family, the eldest male was
always head; he had power not only
| over his relatives, but all persons con-
| nected with his household and his
children'S households. While the father
| though the son might be forty years old
| and have a large family of his own. The
| grandchildren were subject to the same
| as their own father. The family was
| then regarded much as we now regard
| the Individual. If member committed
crime the whole family was held re-
sponsible, and it was perfectly lawful
for the injured family to get revenge or
| satisfaction, even if 1T were necessary
to exterminate the whole offending fam
| lily. This was carried to such an eX-
| tObe t1iiU w lOlC
The blood feud, and it was well
named, descended from father to son.
| 1t was to the Roman, in effect. what the
| inherited curse was to the Greek. The
feud was kept up not so much for the
sake of punishment as to prevent the
supposed liability of the offending fam
| lily to commit fresh offenseS. With all
their peculiar customs in regard to the
family, it must be said to their credit
that they never to any extent practieed
| polygamy. If the Romans did not coun-
tenanee polygamy the Hebrews did, and
| they had a more peculiar custom. There
was law among them called the Levi
rate, which means brother-in-law. and
according to this law, at the death of the
husband, the next oldest unmarried
brother-in-law of the widow
| MARRIED HER IF THERE WE'RE NO
CHILDTEN.
| In this way the wife of the eldest
brother might, in the course of time.
! have been the wife of all the brothers..
This custom afterWard extended to
| many OF the Western nations, but the
marriage took place whether there were
any children or not.
There was another kind of marriage
called polygnia. and, like the Levirate,
| it extended to the Western cOuntries.7
| This, however, did not gain much foot
| hold among the Hebrews. Polygniai
was simply polygamy reversed. Ac-
cording to it, the woman was the head
of the house, and might have as many
| legal husbands at one time as she
| pleased. Her children bore her name,
| and recognized her as head of the house.
Some OF the customs attending a He
braic marriage were peculiar. The
| bridegroom dressed himself in the most
| gorgeous style he could command. He
next perfumed himself with franklin
cense and myrrh. Then lie went forth
covered with gariands, or, if he were
| rich, he would wear circlet of gold and
| ride a gayly caparisoned horse. He
was attended to the brides house by his
| groomsmen, musicians, singers and
torch bearers. The marriage was always
celebrated at night and the bridesmaids
were provided with lamps to meet the
| bridegroom when he came. On his ar
rival he found the bride, bridesmaids
and company awaiting him. AS soon
| as the actual ceremony was over, the
| entire company returned to the BRIDE
| gr0om'S house with great rejoicing.
| When they reached the house they par
look OF the wedding feast. The festiyi-
| ties usually lasted during fourteen DAYS.
The groom not only furnished the feast.
| but the robes of those who took part i'm
| the ceremony.
Pioneer marriages in this country. not
| century ago, had some resemblance to
Hebrew wedding. In those days the
marriage was the cause of great excite
mems. and the whole neighbOrhood was
usually invited. AS the houses of the
Dride and groom were generally far